3D Printed Cyclone Dust Separator

[Nicholas] has been reading Hackaday for a few months now, and after seeing several people’s dust extractor setups, he decided to make his own 3D printed version. And he’s sharing the files with everyone!

He has a small Lobo mill which produces a lot of dust and to clean up he’s been using a small “Shark” brand vacuum cleaner. It’s a powerful little thing, but has little to no capacity which makes it rather frustrating to use. This makes it a perfect candidate for a cyclone upgrade! If you’re not familiar with cyclonic separator it’s a way of removing dust from air using vortex separation — between rotational forces and gravity, this keeps the dust out of your vacuum cleaner and means you never need to change another filter!

Using Autodesk inventor he designed this 4-stage cyclone separator. It’s made for a 1.75″ OD vacuum hose (the Shark standard) but could be easily modified for different vacuums. We’ve seen lots of cyclone separators before, but this 3D printed one certainly makes it easier to fabricate to exacting standards!

Considering the Shark’s pedigree and tiny bastard filter, if used for one stationary task not a bad hack.
I say in one place strapped in against falling over. Keep hose short and smooth, for fastest airflow. Faster means more crap going in.

I think (in the UK at least) things you make for yourself or as a gift for others are not subject to patent law. This is amongst the reasons why 3D printing, if it ever becomes cheap and fool-proof, is viewed as a disruptive technology.